Current multiple pump systems may rely on a single drive assembly to actuate more than one pumping assemblies in a housing. Driving multiple pumping assemblies with a single drive assembly, however, may require a great deal of force and may place significant torsional loads on the pumping assemblies. To compensate, current multiple pump systems may employ a large drive assembly. They may also require large, heavy, and expensive pumping assembly parts to transmit the torque generated by the drive assembly. These larger parts increase the overall size of current multiple pump systems. This can be a serious drawback, particularly if the system is to be located within the engine compartment of an internal combustion engine driven machine, or some other tightly constricted area.
In addition to the problems of size, weight, and cost, current single drive assembly multiple pump systems do not enable the user to vary the system's output easily. In such systems, a shaft of the pumping assembly may be directly coupled to the drive assembly shaft. With such a linkage, the amount of pumped working fluid increases and decreases with the speed of the drive assembly. However, the need for working fluid does not always directly correspond to the speed of the drive assembly. For instance, components may require working fluid before the drive assembly is started and after it has stopped. Because the drive assembly is not turning at either of these times, however, conventional systems do not supply the needed working fluid when required by the components.
The inability to regulate the amount of pumped working fluid may also result in an oversupply or an undersupply of working fluid to the drive assembly components. This could be problematic in that an undersupply of working fluid to the components could cause the drive assembly to overheat, while an oversupply of working fluid could result in a parasitic loss of power by the drive assembly.
Moreover, multiple drive assembly multiple pump systems may employ multiple housings to enclose the pumps. Similar to the single drive assembly multiple pump systems discussed, however, these multiple housing designs may also increase the size of the overall system. In applications similar to those mentioned above, including two separate housings may not even be possible due to space constraints.
One example of a conventional multiple pump system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,961,562 to Kersten et al. This system uses a single drive assembly to actuate the pumping assemblies within a pump housing. This arrangement may result in expensive, oversized shafts, bearings, couplings, and other elements to transmit torque from the single drive assembly to the multiple pumping assemblies. In addition, due to the larger parts required, this design may not be suitable for many applications having tight space constraints. Finally, this arrangement does not allow for variability in the amount of working fluid supplied.
The present disclosure provides a multiple pump housing that avoids some or all of the aforesaid shortcomings in the prior art.